Anthony5: I have lived for seven years in a home with a single wall AAC blocks. No water has seeped into the 12.5 wall blocks. They had proper render when built. I had wall tile on every wal in every bathroom up to the ceiling. My builder only did a Primer, not a sealer when it was time to paint. One coat of primer, next day a coat of quality paint and the day after a 2nd coat of paint. Granted I have decent overhangs and eves, yet there are parts of the wall that take a beating from the rain. I am of the opinion that AAC blocks, Q-con or other quality brands, if they have the proper render applied, and then you wait a month for the sealer and/or coat of primer from a reputable Paint company and decent grade such as Dulux, Nippon Paint, or TOA higher grades of paint, not Supermatex, then with two coats of paint you will not have any water problems. Weber or Lanko or other reputable companies can send a technical rep to your home to instruct the people who build your home with AAC block the proper methods of chapping a wall in Buriram or other provinces in Thailand. I've seen Diamond Brand AAC autoclaved wall blocks send technical reps to a house being built in Buriram Province to instruct the house building construction staff on proper wall block methods. The AAC blocks with tile on the interior or exterior walls have proven strong for kitchen cabinets, VRH safety bars and Seimens cooker hoods to be attached. Not a single failure or leak in 7 years through the AAC blocks. CPAC roof tile failures that is a different subject.

Anthony5: I have lived for seven years in a home with a single wall AAC blocks. No water has seeped into the 12.5 wall blocks. They had proper render when built. I had wall tile on every wal in every bathroom up to the ceiling. My builder only did a Primer, not a sealer when it was time to paint. One coat of primer, next day a coat of quality paint and the day after a 2nd coat of paint. Granted I have decent overhangs and eves, yet there are parts of the wall that take a beating from the rain. I am of the opinion that AAC blocks, Q-con or other quality brands, if they have the proper render applied, and then you wait a month for the sealer and/or coat of primer from a reputable Paint company and decent grade such as Dulux, Nippon Paint, or TOA higher grades of paint, not Supermatex, then with two coats of paint you will not have any water problems. Weber or Lanko or other reputable companies can send a technical rep to your home to instruct the people who build your home with AAC block the proper methods of chapping a wall in Buriram or other provinces in Thailand. I've seen Diamond Brand AAC autoclaved wall blocks send technical reps to a house being built in Buriram Province to instruct the house building construction staff on proper wall block methods. The AAC blocks with tile on the interior or exterior walls have proven strong for kitchen cabinets, VRH safety bars and Seimens cooker hoods to be attached. Not a single failure or leak in 7 years through the AAC blocks. CPAC roof tile failures that is a different subject.

I don't say that AAC blocks is an inferior product,but below i will explain my reasons for objecting to use it for outside walls, especially when building with cavity walls.

I think in one of the links I provided was said that water would penetrate to about 3.5 cm into the AAC blocks, since your blocks are 12.5 cm it would be an extreme if water would leak through, though someone with a cavity wall will not use 2 blocks of 12.5 cm.

As you said yourself in a previous post, not all AAC blocks in Thailand are equal, so it will also depend on the brand you purchase.

But the biggest disadvantage which is usually mentioned when you look up AAC faqs is that people aren't familiar with using them, and most of the time use the wrong materials or apply them in the wrong way, which result in an inferior end product.

Since you live long enough in Thailand you will know that you can invite 100 technicians to instruct the people, if you don't stand next to them 26 hours a day, they will do it their way the moment the instructor has turned his back.

To finish, when building with cavity walls, I have my doubts that the use of AAC block for the outer wall will deliver much insulation benefits over clay or even concrete blocks, particularly taken in consideration the extra costs.

The main purpose from an AAC block is that you can build single block walls with the same insulation values as a cavity wall, but since in Thailand construction is done with column structure which is the main cost factor, the cost of using AAC blocks may not weigh up against the benefits.

But most people paint there walls and that is what prevents absorption of any rain. Granted it might absorb more paint/primer but once painted should not be a major issue.

We are building our new house with Q blocks , as we had great success with them building our village down south (38 houses) .The new house is 380 sq metres and with have a a cavity wall lined with insulation batts and then a gypsum wall put up. So the inside of the whole house will be a good look with no columns.We only have 4 columns inside the house and that was only for the kitchen walls . The most part of the house has a truss roof .

Anthony5: I have lived for seven years in a home with a single wall AAC blocks. No water has seeped into the 12.5 wall blocks. They had proper render when built. I had wall tile on every wal in every bathroom up to the ceiling. My builder only did a Primer, not a sealer when it was time to paint. One coat of primer, next day a coat of quality paint and the day after a 2nd coat of paint. Granted I have decent overhangs and eves, yet there are parts of the wall that take a beating from the rain. I am of the opinion that AAC blocks, Q-con or other quality brands, if they have the proper render applied, and then you wait a month for the sealer and/or coat of primer from a reputable Paint company and decent grade such as Dulux, Nippon Paint, or TOA higher grades of paint, not Supermatex, then with two coats of paint you will not have any water problems. Weber or Lanko or other reputable companies can send a technical rep to your home to instruct the people who build your home with AAC block the proper methods of chapping a wall in Buriram or other provinces in Thailand. I've seen Diamond Brand AAC autoclaved wall blocks send technical reps to a house being built in Buriram Province to instruct the house building construction staff on proper wall block methods. The AAC blocks with tile on the interior or exterior walls have proven strong for kitchen cabinets, VRH safety bars and Seimens cooker hoods to be attached. Not a single failure or leak in 7 years through the AAC blocks. CPAC roof tile failures that is a different subject.

Mate

How many people living in this "house" Nice job

To finish, when building with cavity walls, I have my doubts that the use of AAC block for the outer wall will deliver much insulation benefits over clay or even concrete blocks, particularly taken in consideration the extra costs.

The main purpose from an AAC block is that you can build single block walls with the same insulation values as a cavity wall, but since in Thailand construction is done with column structure which is the main cost factor, the cost of using AAC blocks may not weigh up against the benefits.

Agree 100%. If you are building cavity walls, there's no benefit in using AAC blocks - standard red Thai blocks will get you the exact same effect (i.e. inner wall within 0.x degrees of ambient temp and virtually no outside noise penetrating through the wall).

Been there, done that, as they say.